Roll-up furniture leg floor protector

Abstract

There is provided a process for making a furniture leg floor protector having a plastic body and a floor-contacting pad, by placing a soft pad into a mold cavity whereby an upper pad layer is located at a position corresponding to a bottom wall of the protector, introducing molten plastic into the mold to form the protector body and infiltrating interstices within an upper layer of the felt pad with plastic while leaving the lower layer of the pad essentially free of plastic thereby integrating the pad with the body. The upper, plastic-infiltrated layer is in the range of 0.5 to 2 mm in thickness. The invention further relates to a protector having a plastic body and a floor-contacting pad integrated with the body, in which an upper layer of the pad has interstices filled with plastic and a lower layer is essentially free of plastic.

1 . A process for making a furniture leg floor protector comprising a plastic body and a floor-contacting pad integrated with the body, the body comprising a socket to receive a foot portion of said furniture leg and a bottom wall, said pad having an upper layer comprising felt and a lower layer, the process comprising: providing a mold having a cavity for molding said body of said floor protector, placing said pad into the mold cavity whereby the upper pad layer is located at a position corresponding to said bottom wall and the lower pad layer is opposed to said position, introducing molten plastic into said mold whereby said molten plastic forms said protector body and infiltrates interstices within said upper layer while leaving the lower layer of the pad essentially free of plastic thereby integrating said pad with the bottom wall of said body, wherein the upper layer is in the range of 0.5 to 2 mm in thickness, and removing said protector from the mold. 
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1  wherein said upper layer is selected from: 0.7 to 1.7 mm in thickness, 0.7 to 1.4 mm in thickness, and about 1.0 mm in thickness. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 7  wherein said body further comprises a lip extending from said bottom wall and surrounding an upper portion the pad, wherein the step of injecting plastic infiltrates a portion of said pad with plastic where the pad contacts the lip. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1  wherein at least said upper layer comprises wool or wool blend felt. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 1  wherein said pad comprises an essentially uniform felt material prior to molding. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1  wherein said plastic comprises TPU or Elastane. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1  wherein said molding comprises injection molding. 
     
     
         8 . A process for making a furniture leg floor protector comprising a plastic body and a floor-contacting pad integrated with said body, the body comprising a socket to receive a foot portion of said furniture leg and a bottom wall, the pad having an upper layer comprising wool or wool blend felt and a lower layer, the process comprising: providing a mold having a cavity for injection molding said body of said floor protector, placing said pad into the mold cavity whereby the upper pad layer is located at a position corresponding to said bottom wall and the lower pad layer is opposed to said position, injecting molten plastic into said mold whereby said molten plastic forms said protector body and infiltrates interstices within said upper layer while leaving the lower layer of the essentially pad free of plastic, thereby integrating said pad with the bottom wall of said body, wherein the upper layer is in the range of 0.5 to 2 mm in thickness, and removing said protector from the mold. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 8  wherein said upper layer is selected from: 0.7 to 1.7 mm in thickness, 0.7 to 1.4 mm in thickness, and about 1.0 mm in thickness. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 8  wherein said body further comprises a lip extending from said bottom wall and surrounding an upper portion the pad, wherein the step of injecting plastic infiltrates a portion of said pad with plastic where the pad contacts the lip. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 8  wherein said pad comprises an essentially uniform felt material prior to molding. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 8  wherein said plastic comprises TPU or Elastane. 
     
     
         13 . A furniture leg floor protector comprising a plastic body having a socket defined by a sidewall for receiving a foot portion of said furniture leg and an integral bottom wall, the protector further comprising a pad having an upper layer thereof comprising felt and a lower layer wherein the upper layer is in the range of 0.5 to 2.0 mm in thickness, said upper layer being integrated with said bottom wall of said body by said plastic infiltrated within interstices within the upper layer and the lower layer being essentially free of plastic. 
     
     
         14 . The protector of  claim 13  wherein said upper layer is selected from: 0.7 to 1.7 mm in thickness, 0.7 to 1.4 mm in thickness, and about 1.0 mm in thickness. 
     
     
         15 . The protector of  claim 13  wherein said body further comprises a lip extending from said bottom wall and surrounding an upper portion the pad, wherein the step of injecting plastic infiltrates a portion of said pad with plastic where the pad contacts the lip. 
     
     
         16 . The protector of  claim 13  wherein said pad comprises an essentially uniform felt material prior to infiltration of the upper layer with plastic. 
     
     
         17 . The protector of  claim 13  wherein said plastic comprises TPU or Elastane. 
     
     
         18 . The protector of  claim 13  wherein said felt pad comprises wool or a blend of wool and one or more of polyester, nylon, rayon, polytetrafluoroethylene or cotton. 
     
     
         19 . The protector of  claim 13  wherein said sidewall has a wall thickness which is either essentially uniform or has a decreasing thickness from a lowermost position to an uppermost position. 
     
     
         20 . The protector of  claim 13  wherein the configuration of said felt pad is selected from one of a disk shaped, a convex lower outer surface and a toroidal (ring) shaped. 
     
     
         21 . The protector of  claim 13  further comprising a circumferential lip extending from said lower sidewall portion to surround said felt pad, wherein said pad is infiltrated with plastic within a portion of said pad where the pad contacts the lip. 
     
     
         22 . The protector of  claim 13  wherein at least a portion of the sidewall is stretchable to such an extent that the upper sidewall portion can be rolled or folded outwards to overlie the lower sidewall portion. 
     
     
         23 . The protector of  claim 13  wherein said pad has a density of 0.05-0.3 gm/cm3. 
     
     
         24 . The process of  claim 1  wherein said pad has a density of 0.05-0.3 gm/cm3.